


The last arrival

by yozenfrogurt



Category: Nuclear Throne (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, also it's my sleepover and i get to choose the found family, comments are appreciated!, my knowledge of it comes exclusively from fanart and the wiki, short disclaimer i have never played nuclear throne, sorry if things are off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22312960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yozenfrogurt/pseuds/yozenfrogurt
Summary: Rogue arrives at the campfire, carrying her Portal Strike and an old friend's badge.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13





	The last arrival

“ _...How...eat?_ ”  


They shrugged.  


She cleared her throat. Trashtalk took some getting used to. She was amazed that she had managed to hold on to what she had picked up during missions, much less replicate it. “ _How sleep?_ ”  


The mutant closed all of their eyes and stuck out two thumbs up.  


“ _No, how…_ ” She cocked her head and put her hands by her cheek, miming a pillow, then shook her head and muttered, “Nevermind, actually.”  


Eyes glanced at her, then shrugged and beckoned, shambling through the shifting sands. Rogue followed, clambering over a dune that he had cleared and sliding down on her side. She bumped into their back, and they made a grunting noise, stumbling forwards.  


“Sorry...er...”  


They grunted again, then pointed towards the horizon.  


A campfire. Figures were littered around it, some moving.  


Without knowing it, Rogue had passed Eyes, legs pumping as she waded through the stand. They caught up to her with an indignant squawk (as much as someone could squawk without a mouth, really).  


“Okay, okay. I’ll slow down.” She fell in line behind them as they rubbed the handle of the dented shovel that they had used as a weapon.  


The campfire grew larger, and brighter, and closer, until Rogue was shuffling her feet in the glow of the flames. They had all seen her by now, all but the mass of what looked like bubbling skin and dry bones--she would’ve doubted its--their?--sentience if not for the fact that she had seen them turn over and sigh in their sleep.  


The green-skinned one hopped down from his log, placing the guitar that he had been holding against the wood and patting the neck gently before coming to stand before Rogue. Not with hostility, but a tired, guarded sort of curiosity. Beside his log, a mass of purple crystal sat motionless, seeming to stand guard over a...chicken. Watching a television.  


Rogue shook her head the slightest bit and scanned the campfire. An incredibly jacked man, hunched over a book that was half the size of one of his palms. A one-eyed triangle, flicking green slips of paper (money?) onto a snarling plant, complete with legs and teeth. A robot, beeping and whirring at a glowing green mass of radiation, jumping and bowing in the ‘play’ position that Rogue recognized from the dogs back home. And a bandit, wrapped head to toe in cloth bandages, watching them all from a fair distance. As Rogue caught sight of the last two mutants, she stiffened, hand instinctively creeping towards the gun holstered at her hip.  


The fish-man gurgled, and she jumped. He let out a continuous stream of trashtalk, but all she could pick up was “ _..................we...............Throne......night.........Is hard._ ”  


“ _Throne...bad...ugh_.” Rogue cleared her throat and clenched her teeth. The fish-man cocked his head before turning and growling towards the fire. The jacked man perked up, folded his page, and trotted over, book in hand.  


“ _..............is friend..........._.” said the fish-man. “ _................is....._ ”  


“I don’t…will he help…?”  


The man gritted his teeth, trying to fit the words she had spoken in his mouth. Then he said something in trashtalk, and she stared blankly.  


“ _........trashtalk....._ ” He cleared his throat, seeming to root around in his head for some tongue long-forgotten. Finally, he surfaced. “ **English?** ”  


Rogue nearly wept with joy.  


“ **Yes! Little!** ”  


The man beamed. “ **I too. Before, scientist. From far.** ” He gestured towards his chest, the words eluding him. “ **I...hm. Oh! Steroids.** ”  


“ **Steroids?** ” The word was unfamiliar on her tongue. “ **Steroids. Steroids**.” She shrugged and shook her head.  


“ **I am. Steroids.** ” He gestured towards himself again, then held out his hand. Rogue stared at it for a few seconds before reaching out, tentatively, and patting the palm.  


Steroids threw back his head and laughed; Rogue jumped back before chuckling nervously with him.  


“ **I am Rogue.** ”  


Steroids took her around the camp, introducing her to the mutants by name, in English, then in Trashtalk.  


“ **Fish. Plays guitar. Fish is nicer than seeming.** ”  


“ **Crystal. Very strong.** ” She smiled and waved.  


“ **Chicken. Likes sword.** ”  


The shadows grew longer.  


“ **Y.V. Likes gun. Come from…** ” Steroids shrugged and gestured vaguely towards the sky. Rogue decided not to press it. The triangle was glaring at the gun at her hip and the tattered remains of the patches on her arms.  


“ **Plant. Likes blood.** ”  


“ **Rebel. Left bandits, stays with me-them.** ” Steroids glanced at Rogue, then Rebel, then back again. “ **You can trust. Promise.** ”  


“ **Melting.** ”  


“ **Horror.** ”  


“ **Robot.** ”  


Rogue bent down to pat the robot on its flat head. It whirred with what could be considered pleasure.  


They sat on the log opposite from the humming, strumming Fish. The glow of the campfire seemed to envelop them as the darkness grew thicker. The mutants were drawn in closer, even the bandit--even Rebel creeping close to the fire.  


Finally, Fish cocked his head and garbled Trashtalk towards her.  


Steroids said, “ **Why did you come here?** ”  


The fire crackled.  


“ **Do not...hm. Not must answer. If you don’t like.** ”  


“ **No, I…** ” Rogue fiddled with her fingers before taking off first the Portal Strike, then the satchel that hung by her side, and rummaging around in the sack. Food, rations…  


And a badge.  


It was still shiny.  


“ **I…** ”  


Hunter.  


“ **I steal weapon. From I.D.P.D. Now they chase me.** ”  


As Steroids translated, she could feel the mutants’ attention shifting. Fish raised a brow before nodding and returning to the melancholy strum of his guitar, but some of the other mutants, even as they looked away, kept one wary eye on her at all times.  


Especially that triangle.  


“ **I cannot stay here. I put you all in danger**.” Rogue shook her head and rose to her feet before a bulky hand held her back.  


“ **You should sleep. Leaving is death.** ”  


Rogue turned. The flames were burning out, and Steroids nodded before rising to return to his spot by the fire.  


“ **Good meeting you, Rogue.** ”  


" **...You too. Thank you.** ”  


He smiled and turned back. Rogue sighed, reaching to dislodge her mask before she remembered that she was in a toxic wasteland.  


How long would she last? 

The sack she dragged through the sand left a long and continuous rut behind her. Rogue grunted and sped towards the camp, ignoring the dull ache in her shoulder and the burn of her thighs.  


“ _How did it go?_ ” Crystal met her at the edge of their camp. Rogue shrugged and dropped the sack. Its contents spilled onto the gritty ground--weapons, ammunition, the occasional pack of rations and water. A couple dented containers of rads.  


“ _Good! Good job!_ ” The few mutants that were present and awake perked up, Robot scuttling over first to examine the spoils.  


“ _Thank you. _”  
__

“ _Police aren’t still following, no?_ ”  


“ _Killed them. Lost them in desert._ ”  


Rogue nodded, then sat heavily on the ground. Her shoulder was grazed, but it was shallow. Fish ambled over with the roll of bandages, and she sat and waited as he wrapped the wound.  


“ _Where are others?_ ” said Rogue.  


“ _Looking for the Throne,_ ” Fish said. He rose, patted her shoulder, and joined the others in rooting through the supplies.  


The Throne.  


The mutants had a fascination with it. To curb the boredom and the fear, they would trade stories as the sun set. Melting and Fish seemed to be the oldest, Steroids and Crystal the most articulate. Their most common stories were the ones about the Nuclear Throne. The Proto Mutant. The statues, the end of fighting. Their last hope.  


There were stories in the I.D.P.D., too. The rift in dimensions, that freakish Throne, the bloodthirsty and simple mutants. They clashed every night in Rogue’s head. Bloodthirsty? The only truly bloodthirsty one was Plant, and its ultimate goal was still to reach the throne. Simple? She watched Fish’s fingers cradle the neck of the guitar, dance from string to string. If Rebel came back with some of her little henchmen, she would watch as they play in the sand until they unraveled into nothing, seeming to wilt when their little scarves dissolved in the wind. Chicken seemed engrossed in her movies, perhaps what she had preserved from her life before this one, laughing at the slapstick humor and oftentimes gibbering at the screen whenever the heroes did something stupid. Once, when Rogue had ambled over to catch a glimpse of the movie, Chicken had pulled her to her side, and together they watched a two-hour television special of some spaghetti western.  


As the sun set again, Rebel and Eyes came tumbling from a portal some feet away from the campfire. Frost coated the fluff on Rebel’s coat, hood still pulled tight around her head, and even though they wouldn’t admit it, Eyes wouldn’t stop shivering until they had pulled themself up to the fire beside Melting.  


“ _We came back,_ ” said Rebel, “ _because of an enemy. Crazy little...bean._ ”  
“ _Bean,_ ” said Rogue, her attention split between Rebel and Y.V., the latter pelting an increasingly miffed Horror with what looked like AA batteries.  


“ _Yes._ ” Rebel nodded in earnest. “ _Eyes and I were at the frozen city again. We had spotted a bot when there was...cackling. Then someone shot at the bot, and it fell._ ”  


“ _Shot?_ ”  


“ _We hid._ ” Rebel poked at the fire. “ _Well, Eyes hid. And he pulled me back with his mind power. Good thing, too. A little blue man attacked the bot._ ”  


“ _Blue…?_ ”  


“ _I think he took the rads. All while laughing and talking. I couldn’t understand._ ”  


Rogue was leaning forwards without even realizing.  


The puzzle pieces clicked into place.  


Frozen city.  


Blue man.  


“ _We didn’t like him and spent the whole day creeping around him. When it got late, we found our way back. Eyes was not very happy about that._ ”  


Eyes shrugged and faced the fire again.  


“ _That must have been long way away._ ”  


“ _It wasn’t too bad._ ” Rebel poked at the flames, sending embers flying into the dusk. “ _It took us a few hours by foot._ ”  


“ _If you like,_ ”” said Rogue, “ _I will go with, next time._ ”  


“ _Are you sure?_ ”  


“ _Cold doesn’t bother me._ ” She patted the Portal Strike, the lowest slot glowing blue, and smiled an empty smile. “ _And no crazy bean will stand a chance against Portal Strike_.”  


Rebel laughed, one hand over where her mouth should’ve been. “ _Okay. Thank you._ ”  


As the embers died down, Rogue lay down and rustled through the contents of her bag. She ran her thumb up and down the side of the badge, tarnished from exposure.

**Author's Note:**

> Nuclear Throne's lore is so good yall. I actually got it pretty recently for free on Epic Games but I've yet to open it up...I'm so bad at top-down shooters;;  
> I wrote this a while back (over a year ago!) and there are definitely things that I'd do different, and things I don't love about this. (definitely some non-canon-compliant stuff for sure--i'm pretty sure trashtalk doesn't get this coherent. also rebel's buddies are actual bandit people not just little life-force clones i think? and there's no rhyme or reason to the portals?), but I'm kind of over tweaking it and it's held up well enough. I also want to get in the habit of posting what I write, so here I am.  
> Thanks for reading!


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